


Honesty - A Very Interesting Strategy

by Melisshka



Category: Big Brother RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-03-14 11:24:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3408818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melisshka/pseuds/Melisshka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zach dms with an older fan.  Maybe gets a little bit of a wake up call.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Honesty - A Very Interesting Strategy

Zach considered the implications of what his fan just told him. "Nah, I'm not jerking Frankie around. I love him. And he knows this. I think."

He glanced at his phone, lying where he had left it after he finished DMing with ICU2Zach. She wasn't the kind of fan he usually DM'ed and the conversation was a bit alarming because she didn't kiss his ass like most of the fans did. He'd gotten used to the unconditional love from teenage fans so hearing harsh words from someone old enough to be his mother was unsettling. Not to say that ICU2Zach was anything like his mother; she loved his relationship with Frankie and she felt like he would be losing something rare and important if he let Frankie walk away without a fight. 

But the unsettling part was when she told him that his actions at Livin La Vida Grande made it clear to everyone that he and Frankie were in love and had undoubtedly crossed the friendship line. And when he thought it couldn't get worse, she brought up a snap he took of his hand grabbing Frankie's crotch. He hadn't walked back the affectionate touches and hugs between him and Frankie from the show, but on his next ZRL, he told everyone that the snapped pic wasn't his hand. Nobody believed him, so the fans didn't really care, but after he reacted the way he did, Frankie had wanted distance. And even after getting back from Africa and Los Angeles, he still wasn't willing to let Zach back into his good graces. Of course, at this point, the fandom was besides itself with assumptions about how Zankie was dead or dying. 

Zach didn't really understand why Frankie was upset. They had talked many times about keeping their relationship private until Zach was ready to be open. And Frankie seemed to understand this. What about that snap made Frankie snap? 

ICU2Zach had used a fishing analogy to help him understand what he was inadvertently doing. He hooked Frankie. But instead of just reeling him in and keeping him, he kept letting him off the hook. Then he'd do something sweet to hook him again, and then he'd let him back off the hook again. Sooner or later, ICU2Zach said, "Frankie isn't going to fall for your bait anymore and you're going to be the one who couldn't end up with a fish"

He grabbed the phone and hit the button to dial Frankie. They hadn't talked much recently, so he figured Frankie might actually miss him and want to talk.

"Hey"

"Hi...umm. How are you? I missed you."

"I'm alright, happy to be in L.A. for now, I missed Ari and my body really missed the sun. What's up?

Zach felt a twinge of pain at Frankie missing everything but him, "Nothing really, I just wanted to hear your voice and maybe apologize again."

"Okay, well you've done that before but nothing seems to change, so I'm not sure what's going to be different this time."

"I talked to a fan today."

"You talk to fans all the time, this isn't news."

"No, I mean I talked to a fan who doesn't worship the ground I walk on. Someone who was actually willing to be real with me."

"Well that's different since you seem to enjoy the adulation without any of the constructive criticism you might get from someone with a high school diploma. So, why are you calling me?"

"Ouch," that stung, but Zach continued, "Well, this fan absolutely loves Zankie and she wanted to give me some advice because the entire fandom thinks our relationship is kaput. I don't know what made me read her dm and I really don't understand what made me respond to it. She turned out to be really nice though, but she wasn't tolerating any of my shit. In so many words, she said that I'm jerking you around."

"OK Einstein, you just realized that might be accurate? Jesus, you're dumber than I thought."

Complete silence took over as Zach pondered whether this call was even a good idea. "Hey, that's not very nice."

"Neither is playing me for a fool. How many times do you think you can push me away and then draw me back in again. Yeah, I fell hard for you and I'm still sort of in the same place, but you can't actually think that your constant vacillating doesn't affect me, can you?"

More silence as Zach thought about Frankie's words. "Umm..."

"I came out on Twitter to say how happy I was that you came to surprise me at the theatre. I tweeted about how all was right with the world. I invited you to be a part of my show and everything seemed so perfect. I felt like we were finally in the clear. But one ill-conceived drunken snap and then the back-tracking began. Zach, you didn't really need to delete it, but that I kind of understand, but you definitely didn't need to say anything about that snap. If you just shut the fuck up, everything would have died down in couple days. But no, you felt like you had to address it in the most preposterous way. Newsflash bro, nobody bought it and now you're on my shitlist and that of most of my friends. Nice job."

"Well, the reason that I called is because I wondered if my fan is right. Frankie, I wouldn't hurt you intentionally, I hope you realize that."

He could hear Frankie breathing on the other end, but otherwise, there was no reaction.

"I didn't know how to deal with the reactions to that picture, so I guess I overreacted. I'm such a dumbass."

"Zach, you really are", Frankie softened a bit. "We were all over each other at Livin La Vida Grande. Everybody had cameras and from what I can tell from my Twitter timeline, everyone was taking video. Why didn't you freak out over that?"

"I don't know, we hugged all the time in the house, we constantly professed our love for each other, I guess I thought people had seen that before and it wasn't a big deal." Zach cringed as the words came out of his mouth, because he knew that Frankie could refute that in about a million ways. 

"You really should pay more attention you know. Our fans have analyzed every moment of that video from every available angle and they know what was said. For God's sake Zach, you yelled out that I was in more than just your arms. And you told them we were lovers and friends. Not to mention, that you were stroking my front, my back, and sometimes my ass. Zach, give the fans a little bit of credit here, they know what they heard and saw. It's just like when we first got out of the house, you didn't want to watch any videos so you could deny that anything more than platonic happened."

"Well, I guess I got my wake up call today."

"Sounds like it"

"Frankie, I'm just so sorry that it took a fan calling me out for me to realize how I was affecting you. I'm not sure what I expect you to say or do, I just wanted you to know"

"I'm not sure what to say either, but I'm glad you told me. You know, as much as I allow you to confuse and frustrate me, I need to realize that you've been through a hell of a lot since leaving that house. I had the luxury of being able to come to terms with my sexuality out of the public eye and in my own time. Because you're dating me, you're getting pressure from all directions to make your sexuality clear once and for all and that probably isn't fair."

"I love you Frank. And for what's it's worth, I'm not coming out as anything other than Frankiesexual for now. Is that OK with you?"

"Knowing where we stand is all I ever needed, my love."

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic in this fandom and my first fic ever that isn't complete and utter porn. This is also sort of short, but I definitely wouldn't classify myself as a writer, so, please be gentle. I'm a frequent commenter, but I've been using a different username, so sorry about that. Maybe I'll start commenting under this name at some point.
> 
> Anyway, here's what prompted me. I sent Zach a dm today, basically telling him that if he still wants Frankie, he needs to go and get him, but that he also needs to be ready to give Frankie what he needs. As of 6:29 PM EST he has not replied. (Not really a surprise, is it?) This has nothing to do with their physical relationship, which I think is probably fine, but in my imagination this means, stop backtracking after doing something provocative.


End file.
